CD/DVD, Jump or an External Hard Drive?

I hope I’ve convinced the doubting Thomases who have read my four previous Good Boot Backing Up columns (available at www.news-press.com/goodboot) that they have irreplaceable "Stuff" they should consider organizing and backing up. And just as important how easy it is to begin a backup regimen.

But backing up your irreplaceable "Stuff" to My Documents and its My Pictures, My Music and My Videos sub folders or to Vista’s Documents, Music, Video and Pictures folders is only the first step in securing your data. The next step is to relocate your irreplaceable "Stuff" to an off computer storage device e.g, CD-R, DVD-R, jump drive and\or an external hard drive.

So for those novices who have taken my backing up nagging to heart and have decided to begin a backup adventure but are unsure what off computer storage device they should consider, here’s my suggestions:
* For permanent, periodic archiving of important data I suggest a CD-R or a DVD-R. Other than
on line backing up, I believe it’s the safest, permanent storage. You simply burn a "Copy" of your data to the CD or DVD and store it in a safe place. When it’s time for your next periodic backup use a new CD-R or DVD-R and store it along with your previous periodic CD or DVD backups.
* For ongoing "Exact Copy" backups consider a jump (flash) drive. They come in assorted volumes of up to 16 gigabytes. The 32 gigabyte flash drive is currently prohibitively expensive.
* For ongoing "Copy Only" backups or a combination of "Copy Only" and "Exact Copy" backups

I suggest an external hard drive. They’re inexpensive when you consider the volume of data they can back up. You can even be the first in your neighborhood to have a 3 Terabyte external hard drive. Although for anything other than bragging rights, I cannot imagine why anyone would need one.
* For portability I suggest a Jump (flash) drive. They’re small, easy to carry, require no power adapter and because they’ve no moving parts, extraordinarily durable. However if portability is an issue but you require more volume than jump (flash) drives offer, check out SmartDisk Firelite and Western Digital. I have a 40 gigabyte magnesium alloy housing Firelight that fits conveniently in my shirt pocket and requires no power adapter.

Note: Next week I’ll discuss the difference between a "Copy Only" and an "Exact" backup. And why I’ve not mentioned CD/DVD-RW’s.

Here’s wishing you a Good Boot.